Woodrow Wilson High School - Shield Yearbook (San Francisco, CA)

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regular season opponents Swift and accurate Larry Harem takes a jumper from the top of the key. VARSITY BASKETBALL - BACK ROW Qleft to rightjz Larry Haren, Abraham Gunther, Kenneth Mims, Larry Ferguson, Chris Christensen, Ansley Truitt, Coach Frank Ingersoll. FRONT ROW: Ronnie Greene, Willie Daigle, E1iNea1. Louis Cupp, Ernest Calderon, Mike Mims, and Larry Morrison. Not shown: Bobby Pruitt, Joe Lopes, and Ron Dale. Pa ge 63

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Roundballers breeze past Truitt takes one of his typical shots - up and over the opposition! The ball handling of Eli Neal and Willie Daigle was invaluable to the Warriors' success this year. Here Eli is about to pass underneath a Lincoln defender. Daigle is in position to receive. With pre-season victories over Bishop O'Dowd and McCly- monds, rated No. 1 and No. 2 in the state last year, the round- ballers of upstart Wilson opened the regular season confidently and breezed past Balboa, 61-34, Galileo, 71-55, Mission, 63-40, and powerful Poly, 75-51. This set the stage for the battle between two undefeated cage powers - the Warriors of five-year old Woodrow Wilson and the Irish of perennially pow- erful Sacred Heart. The Irish did not remain undefeated any longer, as the Warriors handed them a 63-48 spanking. With three men guard- ing 6' 9-1f2 Ansley Truitt, little 5'8 guard Eli Neal popped in 26 points to push his team over its biggest hurdle of the season. Washington and Lowell fell next, as the Warriors romped to 58-29 and 62-45 victories, respectively. Then they easily socked it to Lincoln, 53-40, in the regular season finale to complete the school's first undefeated regular cage season. Against the tough Parrots of Poly, Truitt was his usually superb self, guarding the Birds' big 6'7 Mike Stewart and still managing to be the Warriors' high point man. But as usual he received fine performances from Chris Christensen, Larry l-laren, and Mike Mims, a mid-season graduate. Willie Daigle contin- ued his fabulous ball handling feats. Throughout the season Truitt received tremendous help on the boards from Chris Christensen and Larry Haren. l-laren was also a timely scorer along with Eli Neal. Willie Daigle shot when needed, but he and Neal were mainly ball control artists. Page 62 A l

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Warriors take Play-offs Ansley Truitr controls the boards in the play-off game against Sacred Heart. Willie Daigle leaps high to sink a key basket over Poly's 6'7 center Mike Stewart. Truitt 16433 stands ready to assist if needed. By the time the Warriors entered the AAA Play- offs they had made believers out of all San Francisco. They were heav- ily favored to win, which they did - beating Sacred Heart, 67-53, and trouncing Poly, 64-42. Ansley Truitt was at his best in both play- off games. Sacred Heart was outmanned as Truitt, responding to the root- ing section's chant of Do it, Truitt, scored 31 points and grabbed 16 rebounds. He hit on 76 percent of his field goals, making 17 out of 21 attempts. Poly was trampled. Do It pushed in 22 points, latched on to 10 rebounds, and blocked 12 shots. Yet, despite Truitt's individual brilliance, this final play-off victory was a team effort. Larry Haren, Willie Daigle, and Chris Christensen shot better than 50 percent from the floor, with Haren scoring 17 points and Daigle 12. Chris pulled in 8 rebounds and sank 5 points. Meanwhile, Daigle and Eli Neal frustrated Po1y's guards - Daigle stole three passes and turned them into six points. This Wilson High team is the best basketball squad ever to come out of San Francisco, Poly Coach Don Benedetti said after the game. And Ansley Truitt is the best prep player the city ever had, Coach Benedetti added. Making the Chronicle All-City team were: Truitt ffirst teamy, larry Haren ffirstj, Eli Neal Qsecondy, and Chris Christensen and Willie Daigle fhonorable mentionj. Page 64